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SONG Hyun-Sook

Song Hyun-Sook was born in Jeollanamdo, Korea and spent her childhood on the mountain village of Mu-Worli in the province of Damyang. Song had been dispatched to Germany in 1970s to serve as a nurse. After the four-year service, she entered College of Fine Arts in Hamburg and has actively started her new career as an artist. Song conveys the emotion of ‘longing’ through her paintings. The hometown, unfamiliarity in the foreign land, sorrow and conflict, sociality and the afterimage of zeitgeist are filled within the canvas.

Her subject matters are rooted in the traditional past of her native Korea and many are of vernacular nature: a ceramic jug, the corner of a house, rustic raw silk. She harmonizes antithetical elements by using European tempera and canvas and creating powerful brushstrokes with a Korean gwiyal brush. The artist’s brushstroke contains the strong energy of calligraphic skill in the tranquility. Her gestures are entirely conveyed in the brushstrokes. In contrast to the energetic brushstrokes, the images are settled down in serenity. And it releases the Korean natural beauty in infinite depth. In addition to her usual paintings, she has created a work that touches on the moment of personal significance, for her solo exhibition at the Hakgojae gallery in 2014. The artist was inspired by the Sewol-ferry disaster in 2014, in which 304 high school students and passengers perished, for Brushstrokes-Diagram. The deep black background expresses the spirits of the victims and disappearing Sewol-ferry in the dark desolation. This painting has been acquired by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. Song’s works are a part of numerous collections including; Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul; Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf, Germany; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan; and many more.

Biography

 

1952       Born in Damyang, Jeollanam-do, Korea

Lives and works in Hamburg, Germany

 

Education

1985       Studied Korean Art History at the Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea

1981       Studied at the College of Fine Art in Hamburg (Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste Hamburg)

 

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2025       Palais for contemporary art e.V., Glückstadt, Germany

2024       Hyun-Sook Song, Sprüth Magers, New York, US

2023       One brushstroke, the horizon of the world, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

2022       Hyun-Sook Song, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany

2019       The single brushstroke as a horizon between heaven and earth, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

2018       HYUN-SOOK SONG: 7 Brushstrokes, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

2014       Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2012       Galerie Ditesheim, Neuchatel, Switzerland

              Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong

2011      Galerie Gabriele von Loeper, Hamburg, Germany

              Galerie Bernd Lutze, Friedrichshafen, Germany

2008      Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2006       Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul, Korea

              Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, Hamburg, Germany

              Gallery Von Loeper, Hamburg, Germany

2005       Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Bethanien, Berlin, Germany

2003       Galerie Bernd Lutze, Friedrichshafen, Germany

              Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2002       Free Academy of the Arts Hamburg, Hamberg, Germany

1999       Kunstverein Friedrichshafen and Gallery Bernd Lutze Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen, Germany

1997     Song Hyun-Sook Collection, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland

           Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum Hagen, Hagen, Germany

           Kunstverein Hagen, Hagen, Germany

1996       Edwin Scharff Prize Exhibition, Herzhorn Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamberg, Germany; Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

1995       The Stake, Kunstverein Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

              Gallery Bernd Lutze, Friedrichshafen, Germany

1992       Gallery Bernd Lutze, Friedrichshafen, Germany

1991       Drawings, Kunstverein Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen, Germany

1990      Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany

1989      The Hall of Master Drawings of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamberg, Germany

1988       The Firehouse, Art Museum Bern, Bern, Switzerland

1982      My Heart is a Bottle, Hamburger Kunsthalle; Producers Gallery Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

 

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025      from the earth, Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2025-26  Under Pressure Above Water, Arter Museum, Istanbul, Turkey

2024      Isa Mona Lisa, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

The High Yellow Note, Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, Arles, France

2023      Mondi Possibili, Sprüth Magers, Seoul, Korea

2022      40 Years Zeno X Gallery – the two-thousands, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

2021      Works on Paper, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

2020      How To Disappear, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Works on Paper, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

2019      Strange, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, US

Abstract by Nature, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, US

2018      Works on Paper II, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

2017      Architecture of Life, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, US

OFF ROAD, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

2014      Looking Back – JMOA’s Collection, Jeju Museum of Art, Jeju, Korea

             Korean Beauty: Two Kinds of Nature, National Museum of Contemporary Art Seoul, Seoul,             Korea

2013     Art of Prayers, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea

             Women In-Between: Asian Women Artists, Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), Seoul, Korea

             1984–2012, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya, Japan

2012      Women In-Between: Asian Women Artists 1984-2012, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan

              Nostalgia-East Asia Contemporary Art Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China

2011       Nostalgia-East Asia Contemporary Art Exhibition, Korea Foundation Cultural Center, Seoul, Korea

2010       Soul of Line, Ungno Lee Museum of Art, Daejeon, Korea

              Spring and Autumn, Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2008      Treasures Within, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

              Voyage Sentimental, Poznan Biennale 2008, Poznan, Poland

2007      Void in Korean Art, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

              International Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale, Incheon, Korea

2005       The Elegance of Silence-Contemporary Art from East Asia, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

2004      Gabriel MunterPreis, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany

2003      Leaning forward? Looking Back, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, US

2002       The 2nd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan

              Women’s Art Festival 02, Seoul Woman’s Plaza, Seoul, Korea

1999       A Window Inside and Outside, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea

              Women’s Art Festival 99, Arts Center Seoul, Seoul, Korea

1998      Poetics of Time-Korean Contemporary Art, Ho Am Art Museum, Seoul, Korea

              Undercurrents and Overtones-Contemporary Abstract Painting, California College of Arts, San Francisco, US

              Attack and Injury, Itabashi Museum, Tokyo, Japan

1997       Selections Winter 97, Drawing Center, New York, US

              Nomadic Passages: Shamanism and Korean Contemporary Art, Gwangju, Korea

              Gabriel MunterPreis, Frauen-Museum, Bonn, Germany

1994       Iron Age, Kampnagel-Kultur-Fabrik, Hamburg, Germany

1993       Against Violence and Racism, Hambacher Schloss, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany

              Color Contrast, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamberg, Germany

1991       Art Against the Gulf War, Kunstverein Hamburg, Germany

              Collection Carl Vogel, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany

1990     Art Bomb, Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany

1986       Eve and the Future, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

1984      Art Scene of Germany, Kunstverein Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany

1983      Ars Viva, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

              War and Peace, Kunstverein Bremen, Bremen, Germany

1982      Thorn in the Eye, Hamburger Kunstwoche, Hamburg, Germany

              Speculum, Kunstverein Bremen, Bremen, Germany

 

Awards and Funds 

1966       The Edwin Scharf Award for Painting of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany

1995       Special Award from the Hessian Film Prize Jury for the Autobiographical Film Document, My Heart is a Bottle, The Smallest Story, Germany

1991       Work Stipend for Painting from the Kunstfondse v. Bonn, Germany

1983       Support Award for Painting from the Federal German Federation of Industry, Germany

1982      Hamburg Stipend, Germany

 

Public Collections

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Gwacheon, Gwacheon, Korea

Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea

Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, Korea

Jeonnam Art Museum, Korea

Jeju Museum of Art, Jeju, Korea

Daegu Museum of Art, Daegu, Korea

Kumho Museum, Seoul, Korea

Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, Korea

Ho Am Art Museum, Yongin, Korea

Peace Museum, Seoul, Korea

Sungshin Women’s University Museum, Seoul, Korea

National Gallery of Canada, Toronto, Canada

Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland

Musée des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburger, Germany

Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany

Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne, Germany

Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan

Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya, Japan

Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

M+ Museum, Hong Kong

 

Artworks
Brushstrokes - Diagram

2025

Tempera on canvas

110x120cm

5 Brushstrokes

2025

Tempera on canvas

170x130cm

Untitled

2011

Tempera on paper

25x20cm

Untitled

2015

Tempera on paper

25x27cm

4 Brushstrokes I

2018

Tempera on board

46x37cm

9 Brushstrokes

2024

Tempera on canvas

160x115cm

6 Brushstrokes Over 1 Brushstroke

2024

Tempera on canvas

152x115cm

5 Brushstrokes I

2023

Tempera on canvas

100x100cm

Brushstrokes - Diagram IV

2023

Tempera on canvas

130x142cm

8 Brushstrokes

2007

Tempera on canvas

150x200cm

7 Brushstrokes Over Figure

2013

Tempera on canvas

150 x 170 cm

8 Brushstrokes Over Tiger

2013

Tempera on canvas

170 x 127 cm

6 Brushstrokes

2008

Tempera on canvas

110 x 100 cm

News
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    SONG Hyun-sook

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    2019.11.15

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